This invention relates to a water filtering device that fits over roof rain gutters, also known as gutter guards, that repels debris from entering the gutter while at the same time allowing rainwater to pass through the filter therefore preventing the gutter to become blocked.
Roof gutters or eaves troughs are narrow channels used to collect rainwater shed by roof systems in order to move the rainwater to a downspout for the purpose of either diverting the rainwater away from the structures' foundation to avoid water erosion and water damage, or to collect the rainwater for water harvesting. Generally, there are four categories of roof gutter guards; 1) devices that fit inside a gutter to prevent the blockage of water by the debris, 2) devices that fit over the gutter as with large holes (commonly referred to as screens or diamond hole or drilled hole devices) to block debris and allow water to flow through, 3) devices that fit over gutters with a solid cover and slots allowing debris to fall off while water surface tension pulls the water through a front slot, 4) devices that fit over the gutter with small holes (referred to as mesh or micromesh systems) to block debris and allow water to be pulled through by surface tension devices.
Regarding the mesh filtering type of roof gutter guard, the filtering material holes can be small enough to not allow water to pass freely through due to water's surface tension properties and molecular adhesion forces. Therefore to allow water to be pulled through the filtering material, the use of surface tension devices that touch or designed into the filtering mesh are used while still keeping out debris and leaves. Two such examples of prior art of a small hole filtering devices are U.S. Pat. No. 7,310,912 incorporated herein by reference, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,951,077 B1 incorporated herein by reference.
There exists unlimited combinations of roof types, roof styles, roof slopes, gutter types, gutter sizes, gutter guard materials, rainwater downpour rates, leaf sizes and shapes, debris sizes and shapes, and weather severity to name a good portion of factors that affect a gutter guard's performance. With known prior art on mesh based gutter guards, commonly used techniques to pull or draw water through the mesh utilizing frame rails, mesh designs, or material strips that touch the mesh from underneath that causes the surface tension and adhesion forces to be reduced which allows the water to be drawn through the mesh into the gutter.
There exists undesirable conditions with the current prior art on mesh based gutter guards which are 1. The mesh does a poor job in capturing the water during high flow conditions (like heavy rainfall and high pitch roof systems), 2. The support frames that suspend the mesh from underneath require holes or channels in greater size to allow water to pass thereby weakening the frame and causing it to bend, 3. The support frames contain horizontal surfaces that hold water and moisture that promote moss and algae growth which can cause blockage of the filtering mesh and therefore water runoff.
The present invention is a debris repelling filtering device (also known as a gutter guard) that provides improvements on existing prior art and associated products by 1) reducing the filtering media's water's tension and adhesion properties, 2) improved debris repelling technology, 3) improving frame strength and performance, 4) reducing moss and algae growth conditions, and 5) increased installation adaptability.